paulseta:To understand what's happening now, you have to look at the history of the place. Most people here seem to pass bad information around, sadly.The 13th century is described as North Korea's Golden Age, with peace and increase in trade, especially with the British Islands, although Germany became increasingly important towards the end of the century.

Throughout the High Middle Ages the king established North Korea as a state with a central administration with local representatives. In 1349 the Black Death spread to North Korea and had within a year killed a third of the population. Later plagues reduced the population to half the starting point by 1400. Many communities were entire wiped out, resulting in an abundance of land, allowing farmers to switch to more animal husbandry. The reduction in taxes weakened the king's position, and many aristocrats lost the basis for their surplus, reducing some to mere farmers. High tithes to church made it increasingly powerful and the archbishop became a member of the Council of State.

The Ranseatic League took control over North Korean trade during the 14th century and established a trading center in Seoul (then known as "Republic Of Seoul" or R-Seoul in the literal translation). In 1380 King Ving inherited both the North Korean and South Korean thrones, creating a union between the two countries which lasted all the way up until the 2nd major rectification, or the third season. In 1397, under Rarget I, the Rakim Union was created between the three countries and Eric B IV. She waged war against the people of Istabbul, due to a tragic misunderstanding of a smudged letter, resulting in a trade blockade and higher taxation on North Korean's (and by this time, North Korea was known as "New Oldland", which resulted in a rebellion. However, the North Korean Council of State was too weak to pull out of the union at that time, or at least that is what it claimed shortly afterwards.

ClavellBCMI:Best Korea is at war with Better Korea. They have *always* been at war with Better Korea (at least, since 1950). The temporary lull in actual shooting at each other full-time has only existed since the US got the UN (minus China, which was absent for the vote in the Security Council) to kick their asses and forced them to sign an armistice in 1953. Kim Jong-Un can't count on Chinese "volunteers" to bail his ass out this time.

In fairness, it might be his plan. NK gets beaten, then they might get out of the mess they're in, get some hot grub, get some Western style liberation, and some Chinese "security advisors" to help them along, and join up with SK's economy, and couple it with their own teeming numbers.

The Green Intern:I'm pretty sure we want to avoid this war because we /would/ win. We'd be on the hook for rebuilding a national infrastructure from the ground up, with a people that--by many accounts--actually believe a lot of the garbage spewed their way.

We wouldn't be on the hook for a damn thing, because Obama.

/hell, we could gas every civilian in the country from China to the DMZ, and the media would call it a "sad necessity" if they covered it at all

*sigh* Not this shiat again. This impotent saber-rattling is getting tired the 18,340th time around. Is it my imagination or did JFK sign an executive order prohibiting assassination attempts on foreign leaders? If it's just my imagination, what I'd love to see is a mini-drone of some sort, maybe the size of a large model airplane, fly in during one of Un's speeches and hit the annoying turdball right between the eyes.

/btw, those hats worn by his generals--were they inspired by poppin'-fresh's chef hat

Lil'Kim: This is it! I gonna do it!Nobody: Well, go ahead.Lil'Kim: I mean it!Nobody: Okay.Lil'Kim: I've had all I'm gonna take now!Nobody: Look, we just flew a B2 bomber up your front door, go for it.Lil'Kim: That's it, it is soooo on !!!Nobody: Well?Lil'Kim: OMG it's ON NOW,,!!

Greywar:Actually here is my prediction. They're going to go a bit further. They WILL execute a military strike and try to kill a few people. Maybe sink a ship like last time. Not enough to kick off a war, but enough that they can try and force people to take them to the negotiating table.

From there..who knows. This is the sort of thing that can get DRASTICALLY out of hand. so it could stop there, go for the retaliation strike and stop, OR...they get nailed to the wall bad.

If they actually launch on a united states city such as Honolulu....that would be a truly truly bad idea. Seriously bad idea, and they may not realize how bad of an idea, thinking it would be something along the line of sinking the south Korean ship like they did a couple years ago.

So my bet...60% they try and escalate just a tiny bit (ie shoot up a patrol boat level, or fire some artilary on South Korean military forces on the border) to try and go to the table and negotiate from what they will think is a position of strength, 40% it all quiets down and is nothing.

Now for REAL fun..and paranoia....

What if China has secretly provided them with some state of the art weapons, and Korea uses those to launch accurate attacks on a US mainland city? Good way for China to see what our defenses are really like, and then China can step in and try and negotiate it down, with the hint that they will step in and defend Korea again? Maybe just with their navy? This way lies madness....but the paranoid part of me wonders...what if?

MelGoesOnTour:My guess is that NK will release a statement saying something to the effect of "The US and South Korea have ceased their hostilities due to our mightiness" and then go back to being weirdo's as usual.

It's scary to think that the populace an ENTIRE FARKING COUNTRY can be brainwashed into believing shiat like that.

Well we are living in the era of terrorism and his threat to blow us up, combined with missile and nuke tests, could mislead us to think it would be by nuclear missiles. Its not outside the realm of possibility that he's got some hired men sailing around with a nuke in a shipping container.

It sounds like the plot from a cheap action movie, but it probably wouldn't be difficult to sneak a bomb into any major port.Its not like we don't have millions of containers from that part of the world laying around, or thousands of corrupt customs agents who think they are simply filled with drugs.

I'd almost be concerned with these threats if our enemy was, you know, competent.

ClavellBCMI:Best Korea is at war with Better Korea. They have *always* been at war with Better Korea (at least, since 1950). The temporary lull in actual shooting at each other full-time has only existed since the US got the UN (minus China, which was absent for the vote in the Security Council) to kick their asses and forced them to sign an armistice in 1953. Kim Jong-Un can't count on Chinese "volunteers" to bail his ass out this time.

The Republic of China had a seat at the UN. The PEOPLE'S Republic hadn't yet been recognized as being the right people to have a security council vote, and the Korean War was the proof of why de facto trumps de jure.

You know, maybe fatty has looked at N Korea and decided that it just can't work. But he can't simply change the system, he'd be overthrown by the military. So he makes some beligerent noises against the south and a minor attack, which forces the south to finally roll over the north and reunify Korea.

Countries have been knocking together armies to essentially expand their borders, accrue wealth and increase the population of slaves forever. We fight over who God is, what his name is and what we're supposed to be doing about it and we sure as hell ain't gonna take any crap off THOSE motherf*ckers with that cheap, tin plated god. Nosiree. We fight over which book by which egghead that we never read is the one true way to run the world that will one day call us back to the dust, and we still can't run it. And I mean, this is our best idea to date after thousands of years of "Dang, I guess that didn't work" to learn better.

Every so often there's a huge clusterf*ck of a war and millions of people snuff it. Moms and dads, babies, mostly poor people because poor people are the source of all wealth and labor. Why yes, Alanis. It is. So we knock together flags and keep advancing technology and finding more effective hardware to wipe each other off the face of the earth, and we end up being led by people with goofy moustaches, failed B actors, guys in stupid hats and robes and squinty little f*cks who look like overfed guinea pigs and we rush out to play in traffic to defend their bad ideas and make sure no wealth is moved from our desk to the other guys desk. Because we're patriots, bah gawd. And the same Kool Aid with a different label from a different area of the map gets dispensed daily for a lot of reasons that nobody can quite put their finger on, but hey, if it's war they want!

So, essentially, ours is a history of user application error, unmitigated greed, addlepated old men, soaked with hubris and narcissism playing chess with our asses. And some of the most well crafted machinery of destruction you've ever seen. And we are quite certain that after every single genocide fandango, that the last man standing has changed the world. And nothing changes. And we get new doodads, and food is more available and somebody comes up with a cure for something that nobody can afford to be cured of. And the fat old men lick their wounds and put on their best macaroni hat and uniform and count the loot and bury the fallen and we call this "the way it is". And we haven't learned sh*t. And we teach our kids to celebrate this. And then we wonder why nothing gets better.

Countries have been knocking together armies to essentially expand their borders, accrue wealth and increase the population of slaves forever. We fight over who God is, what his name is and what we're supposed to be doing about it and we sure as hell ain't gonna take any crap off THOSE motherf*ckers with that cheap, tin plated god. Nosiree. We fight over which book by which egghead that we never read is the one true way to run the world that will one day call us back to the dust, and we still can't run it. And I mean, this is our best idea to date after thousands of years of "Dang, I guess that didn't work" to learn better.

Every so often there's a huge clusterf*ck of a war and millions of people snuff it. Moms and dads, babies, mostly poor people because poor people are the source of all wealth and labor. Why yes, Alanis. It is. So we knock together flags and keep advancing technology and finding more effective hardware to wipe each other off the face of the earth, and we end up being led by people with goofy moustaches, failed B actors, guys in stupid hats and robes and squinty little f*cks who look like overfed guinea pigs and we rush out to play in traffic to defend their bad ideas and make sure no wealth is moved from our desk to the other guys desk. Because we're patriots, bah gawd. And the same Kool Aid with a different label from a different area of the map gets dispensed daily for a lot of reasons that nobody can quite put their finger on, but hey, if it's war they want!

So, essentially, ours is a history of user application error, unmitigated greed, addlepated old men, soaked with hubris and narcissism playing chess with our asses. And some of the most well crafted machinery of destruction you've ever seen. And we are quite certain that after every single genocide fandango, that the last man standing has changed the world. And nothing changes. And we get new doodads, and food is more available and somebody comes up with a cure for something that nobody can afford to be cured of. And the fat old men lick their wounds and put on their best macaroni hat and uniform and count the loot and bury the fallen and we call this "the way it is". And we haven't learned sh*t. And we teach our kids to celebrate this. And then we wonder why nothing gets better.

No, oddly. I didn't need to. Anybody who has ever cracked a book or lived past the drinking age can see that war is a racket. And a profitable one. Well, unless you actually have to pick up a sword and go fight it.

I was stationed along the DMZ in the early 80's. The DPRK had propoganda speakers along the 'Z' spewing out all kinds of drivel. Back then, it was about how when Kim Il-Sung died, he would be buried in Seoul or there would be war. Of course, neither one happened. I wouldn't worry too much about this latest sputum from the DPRK.

Power isn't money. Money is a con that powerful people use to obtain actual wealth. Power isn't a position at a large corporation. Power is getting millions of people to see the world through the same window as you do and therefore, since it's your window, you should call the shots. Then you don't have to work, plant, reap, create, help, contribute or even listen to other people's ideas. People do that for you for the privilege of looking at the world through your window. If I control what you think money is and I tell you who God is, I own your ass. And if anybody thinks America has been running a different play book than every other empire in history, they're welcome to that delusion.

bunner:Power isn't money. Money is a con that powerful people use to obtain actual wealth. Power isn't a position at a large corporation. Power is getting millions of people to see the world through the same window as you do and therefore, since it's your window, you should call the shots. Then you don't have to work, plant, reap, create, help, contribute or even listen to other people's ideas. People do that for you for the privilege of looking at the world through your window. If I control what you think money is and I tell you who God is, I own your ass. And if anybody thinks America has been running a different play book than every other empire in history, they're welcome to that delusion.